...Before this no form of spirituality was so solidly based on the concept of love as was his.... A method of growing and persevering in love (a method which we will define in a moment)--this is the essence of Salesian spirituality.... This does not mean that the soul renounces the deliberate pursuit of special virtues, nor that it postpones this pursuit.
St. Francis de Sales wrote:
"Often consider that the true value of all that we do comes from our
conformity with God's will. If I eat and drink because it is God's will for
me to eat and drink I am more pleasing to Him than if I were to suffer
death without this intention."